>>TONYA: We have been coming to this library and to the main library, I would say, for the the past 18 years. And for Nini and her brother, Albena, they've been raised in the library since they were infants. I mean, I nursed them in the library, in this library and the main library. The library has just been an extension. My dad was a junior high school teacher, and my parents were divorced. On his visitation day, we were at the Downtown library, and he was doing his thing with books and research. Then me, my brother, and sister would just run around to hurry-scurry, be running up and down the book shelves, and just be finding things to do for hours because it would be 4 or 5 hour stretches that we'd be at the library as children, so being in the library was just like being at home. When my children were born, I would take them to the library. I took them to the pediatrician when they were 2 weeks old. When I took her to the pediatrician, the pediatrician, Dr. Renee Taylor, asked, "Are you reading to her?" And I said, "Sometimes." And she said, "Well you might just feed her sometimes." So after that, I just started reading, like I was feeding them their meals. So she's been reading probably since she was 2 weeks old. Lets see, my mother used to read to me at night before bedtime. It's just the classic story of a mom sitting close to her baby while the baby is in bed, and just reading. I remember my first books that I actually loved were "Peter's Chair" by Ezra Jack Keats, and "A Letter to Amy", and "Goggles" all by Ezra Jack Keats. So those were the books that I was brought up with as well as Aesop's Fables, myth's, folktales, fairy tales were the kinds of stories that I was brought up with. So I've been reading those to my children, and that's how I learned best, through children's literature, through adults speaking to children in a language that children can understand. It's just that some part of my brain really learns that off of children's literature.
Part 2:
>>TONYA: And for Nini and her brother, Albena, they've been raised in the library since they were infants. I mean, I nursed them in the library, in this library and the main library. The library has just been an extension of our home.
[Narrators]
>>TONYA: Should I just fill this out later?
>>NARRATOR 1: Yeah!
>>TONYA: Or right now?
>>NARRATOR 2: You can after. It might be easier.
>>TONYA: Okay.
>>NARRATOR 2: So do you guys have any stories that you were talking about how you were raised in the library. How did you become a part of the library. Did your mom work at the library.
>>TONYA: My dad was a junior high school teacher, and my parents were divorced. On his visitation day, we were at the Downtown library, and he was doing his thing with books and research. Then me, my brother, and sister would just run around to hurry-scurry, be running up and down the book shelves, and just find things to do for hours because it would be 4 or 5 hour stretches that we'd be at the library as children, so being in the library was just like being at home.
>>NARRATOR 2: Nini, do you have any special stories about the library?
>>NINI: I go to the library when I'm at camp, and I check out books that I like. I really like chapter books because I can read them for a long time, and sometimes I can find out that it's my favorite book.
[Narrators laugh]
>>NARRATOR 2: Who taught you how to read?
>>NINI: Nobody.
[Everyone laughs]
>>NARRATOR 2: Did you teach yourself?
>>NINI: Yes.
>>TONYA: When my children were born, I would take them to the library. I took them to the pediatrician when they were 2 weeks old. When I took her to the pediatrician, the pediatrician, Dr. Renee Taylor, asked, "Are you reading to her?" And I said, "Sometimes." And she said, "Well you might just feed her sometimes." So after that, I just started reading, like I was feeding them their meals. So she's been reading probably since she was 2 weeks old. You don't remember that do you?
[Everyone laughs]
>>NARRATOR 2: Do you have a favorite book right now?
>>NINI: Yes.
>>NARRATOR 2: What is it?
>>NINI: "Liberty Porter". It's a daughter that's a president's daughter, and my favorite part is when the president sits on glitter glue in a limo.
[Everyone laughs]
>>NARRATOR 1: What grade are you in?
>>NINI: 2nd.
>>NARRATOR 1: Do you have any stories about when you learned to read?
>>TONYA: Lets see, my mother used to read to me at night before bedtime. It's just the classic story of a mom sitting close to her baby while the baby is in bed, and just reading. I remember my first books that I actually loved were "Peter's Chair" by Ezra Jack Keats, and "A Letter to Amy", and "Goggles" all by Ezra Jack Keats. So those were the books that I was brought up with as well as Aesop's Fables, myths, folktales, fairy tales were the kinds of stories that I was brought up with. So I've been reading those to my children, and that's how I learned best, through children's literature, through adults speaking to children in a language that children can understand. It's just that some part of my brain really learns that off of children's literature.
>>NARRATOR 2: Okay, thank you so much.
>>NINI: when I was in class, I wrote that I'm writing a story about what I lost, and it's got a "lost and found" plot. And I lost my stuffed animal named Ellie, and I never found it but I just made up where I found it. So I said it's in the basement, but I never even checked down there anyway.
>>NARRATOR 2: So you're a fairy tale teller?
>>NINI: Yes.
>>NARRATOR 2: You like to make things up? Do you prefer fake stories or real stories?
>>NINI: Fake.
[Everyone laughs]
>>NARRATOR 2: Fake stories. You like to use your imagination, huh?
[Narrator 2 laughs]
>>NINI: Yes.
>>NARRATOR 2: Do you get to do the Summer Reading Club or any of those kind of things.
>>NINI: Yes.
>>TONYA: Yeah, we do the Summer Reading Club. We've been doing the Summer Reading Club since she was born, and same with her brother.
>>NARRATOR 2: Do they still give you incentives? Like something with Pizza Hut? Do you get stuff like that? When I was little, you got to go to Pizza Hut.
>>NINI: A lot of coupons.
Mommy daughter library stories
Adams, Tonya (2010-03-09)
>>TONYA: Coupons, little book bags, sometimes school supplies, but I tell you, it's because I was raised in the library, and because she's been raised in the library their reading scores are extremely high, her and her brother's. And it was because of the library that I was able to get through school, and through college, and through graduate school. Because the library was just a comfortable place to be, and to study, and to read, and to write.
>>NARRATOR 2: You have your own library card, Nini?
>>NINI: Yes.
>>NARRATOR 2: Because some people, they are adults before they get their own library card, so you have one, that's pretty cool.
>>TONYA: Yeah, since she was 3. She got her own library card for her 3rd birthday. How did you remember that?
>>NINI: I just did because I got a lot of things when I was 3.
>>NARRATOR 1: Do you remember the day that you got your library card?
>>NINI: No.
>>NARRATOR 2: You don't remember?
>>TONYA: It was probably on her birthday because I gave my son, Albena, his library card on his first library card on his birthday when he turned 3.
>>NARRATOR 1: Do you remember when you got your first library card?
>>TONYA: I was probably about 5 or 6.
>>NINI: I knew that. You should have told me that.
[Everyone laughs]
>>NARRATOR 2: So is your brother older or younger than you?
>>NINI: Older.
>>NARRATOR 2: Older. Does he help you read?
>>NINI: No.
[Everyone laughs]
>>NARRATOR 2: You guys never read together?
>>NINI: No, unless mommy says so.
>>TONYA: Now they feel like they're too big, but we used to make it a habit to snuggle up in my bed, which I call a "nest", and just read at least 2 or 3 books a night, but now they're just like, "Oh that is so lame."
[Everyone laughs]
>>TONYA: But they read at school, and they have a nice library at their school.
>>NARRATOR 2: That's great.
>>NARRATOR 1 and 2: Thank you.